A randomised controlled trial of percutaneous fixation with Kirschner wires versus Volar locking-plate
fixation in the treatment of adult patients with a dorsally displaced fracture of the distal radius.
DRAFFT Collaborators Day Summary - 20th October 2011
On behalf of the DRAFFT team we would like to thank
the Research Associates and Principal Investigators
from across the 14 of our 17 centres who managed to
join us in Warwick for our first collaborators day back
in October. We feel the day was a great success which
we have summarised below.
Professor Matthew Costa kick started the meeting
with an update on the progress of DRAFFT and reminded everyone about the background of the study,
why we are comparing K-wires to Locking plates, the
eligibility criteria and which centres are taking part.
The key message from this talk was that recruitment is
going extremely well and that we are currently ahead of target. Matt presented a few slides which highlighted that 74% of patients are over 50, 83% are female and we have very equal numbers of intra and extra
articular extension in both groups above and below 50. He mentioned that follow-up is also going well with
rates of 87-89% to date. He then covered the few SAEs which have been reported and finally highlighted
that we have had 19 protocol deviations where patients have not received their allocated treatment and
stressed the importance of trying to reduce this in future.
This was followed by a session which focused on how and why we must screen ALL distal radius fractures.
Matt started this session by highlighting that screening all fractures will enable us to report the overall incidence of this injury which is vital to how the results will be interpreted by the orthopaedic community and
that screening ensures no eligible patients are missed. Jacqueline Claydon (Research Associate from Royal
Victoria Infirmary) and Kirstie Walker (Research Associate from Wansbeck General) contributed by summarising how they have found the process at their centres and what challenges they have faced and how they
have worked around them. This session generated a lot of discussion and hopefully helped create a few
ideas for other centres on how they could tackle possible issues.
The delegates then split into smaller groups to discuss successes and challenges they have experienced to
date at their centres and fed this back. Key successes taken from this session were that people like the paperwork and newsletters and the fact this is an ’easy’ trial to recruit into. Common challenges were efficient
use of time, getting known and accepted in clinics and changing the culture.
After lunch we heard from David Keene (AIM Research Physiotherapist) and Professor Damian Griffin (HeFT
Chief Investigator). These talks focused on lessons learnt from these two large and successful multi-centred
orthopaedic trials. Both of these talks highlighted how difficult it has been in the orthopaedic community
to set up clinical trials and change the culture but that they are succeeding and this is an exciting time for
the network to work together on future collaborations.
The day concluded with a saw bones workshop which allowed people to have a go at fixing the plates and
wires into a wrist.
If you have any queries please contact Jaclyn (Trial Coordinator) Jaclyn.Brown@warwick.ac.uk 02476 151 386 or
Isabel (Trial Administrator) I.O.Wall@warwick.ac.uk 02476 151 407
Feedback
We received very positive and encouraging feedback from everyone about their experience of the DRAFFT
Collaborators day. Everyone rated all the sessions as either excellent or good and common themes people
commented on which they found most useful about the day was the opportunity to network and meet the
other Research Associates and discussing screening.
No-one reported any negative things about the day but a few commented that the updates on other trials,
although interesting, were perhaps a little irrelevant to them.
When asked what improvements to the day we could make, again most people noted nothing but one
delegate did suggest we could have invited other surgical colleagues and not just the PIs which may have
helped to keep them up to date, give them a sense of feeling involved even though they are not a
nominated PI and allow them to feedback to their colleagues.
Everyone said they would attend a future meeting and ideas for that meeting included the trial outcomes
and updates.
The DRAFFT team are currently in the process of submitting an amendment to ethics to
propose centres recruit beyond the 390 target and continue to the end of June 2012 as
originally planned and will confirm when this has been approved.
To date we have recruited 289 participants and it would be a fantastic achievement if we
could reach 300 by the end of November.
If you have any queries please contact Jaclyn (Trial Coordinator) Jaclyn.Brown@warwick.ac.uk 02476 151 386 or
Isabel (Trial Administrator) I.O.Wall@warwick.ac.uk 02476 151 407